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(More customer reviews)With "Doo Wop 50" over three years ago, PBS and its Pittsburgh affiliate came up with an amazing trip back in popular musical history, which proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that "oldies" music could be something more than sheer nostalgia. The performers, many in their sixties and seventies, rose to the special occasion of performing just a couple of their "biggies" in Pittsburgh's grand Benedium Theater and showed that they still had "the right stuff." Having given so many of the original R&B and Doo Wop groups their "day in the sun" in "Doo Wop 50" and "Doo Wop 51," promoter T.J. Lubinsky apparently decided (no doubt with the help of host Jerry Butler) to expand and include more solo acts and more "pop" performers in the 2001 line-up. The result is yet another masterpiece, showcasing some of the most memorable performers of forty years ago. Unfortunately the need to edit two full nights of classic hits down to a single show meant that some terrific music had to be cut. Lou Christi only gets to remind us that he "still has the voice" on "Lightning Strikes," but word has it that his other performances that same night were just as remarkable. One important omission made in introducing the performers was in stating who is ORIGINAL and who is NOT. The Duprees, despite their extraordinary recreation of three of their biggest hits, are not fronted by Joey Vann (who died in the early 1980s), nor were the Limelights of "Daddy's Home" fame fronted by James "Shep" Sheppard (also deceased), while the Fleetwoods only seem to have but one original in singer Gary Troxell. Still the legendary reunions, and more important, the ability of these performers to give yet again their full measure make this an extraordinary show worth watching over and over again. Had it been longer and more inclusive, surely my fifth star would have been earned.
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